T.S. ELIOT AS A POET
INTRODUCTION:
“Let us go, then, you and I / When the
evening is spread out against the sky/ Like a patient etherized upon a table". With these lines Eliot appeared
on the scene of modern English poetry as a wonderful innovator. These lines revolutionized
the intellectual climate of English poetry. He initiated a new brand of poetry
of the city, a poetry essentially cerebral, impersonal, imagistic, urbane,
ironic and observational.
POET’S CAREER:
T.S. Eliot was one of the
significant literary figures in twentieth century. He received the Nobel
Prize in 1948. He was a keen student of philosophy and took exceptional
interest in Indian and Hindu philosophy. In 1908 young Eliot started writing
poetry. In1911 his first major poem The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock came out.
The coming years showed his literary talent. Among his most famous writings are
Portrait of a Lady, Aunt Helen,
Gerontion, Sweeney Among the Nightingales, The Hippopotamus, The Waste Land ,
The Hollow Man, The Journey of Magi, Ash Wednesday and Four Quartets. Apart from poems, he was a successful dramatist too.
His plays Murder in the Cathedral, The
Family Union , Confidential Clerk, The Cocktail
Party and The Elder Statesman enjoyed
great commercial success. His critical pieces such as Tradition and Individual Talent, Dante, After Strange God, The Idea of Christian Society, and The Frontiers of Criticism offered him much
acclaim.
AS A MODERN POET:
Eliot is a modern poet in the
true sense of the term. There are the descriptions of modern society in his
poems. The Love Song of J Alfred Prufock
portrays modern man’s dilemma. The Waste
Land encapsulates the predicament of the post war generation. Full of
classical allusions, The Waste Land
is the touchstone of modern literature. It beautifully evokes the fragmented
human experience vainly striving for meaning in life. Ash Wednesday borders on hope and salvation. Four Quartets combines poetic imagination with philosophical
thoughts. Eliot represents
the quintessence of an age riding on the waves of new-fangled ethos. An
accomplished poet, playwright and literary critic par excellence, Eliot’s opus
departed from the traditional ways of representation. It dwelled upon a certain
sense of disenchantment, alienation, loss and chaos. He embodies the very
spirit of modern literature.
STYLE:
Eliot
has been one of the most daring innovators of twentieth-century poetry. He believes
that poetry should aim at a representation of the complexities of modern
civilization. He was influenced early in his poetic career by
Baudelaire, Mallarme, Laforgue and Corbiere. He got associated with Ezra Pound
and the Imagist Movement in English poetry. His poetics comprises a rare
artistry which is hugely inspired by anthropology, psychology, occult and
mysticism. His conscious artistry of imagery and tone is always appreciated. The
narrative of Eliot’s poems reworks stream of consciousness technique. It often
focuses on madness, ennui, guilt, remorse and breakdown of humanity. Eliot was
a sheer conjurer with words. He gave birth to unique prose and verse. His influence on modern poetic diction has
been immense.
CONCLUSION:
Eliot firmly
believed in the ‘impersonal’ poetry. He opposed the Romanticism and declared
that “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it
is not the expression of personality but an escape from personality. His
observations on the monotony, squalor, the boredom and the horror are
fantastic. In his writing one can enjoy the revival of the Metaphysical
tradition of wit, allusion, conceit, colloquialism, ironic banter etc. In
short, tracing Eliot in a few words is a Herculean task.
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